The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

The mortality rate among babies up to 1 year (per 1000 of newborns) in the oblast is 12.0, in particular:

Chortkiv district

11,0

Zborivskiy district

19,3

Shumskiy district

18,4

Lanivetskiy district

15,5

Kozivskiy district

14,9

Comparing to previous years, the mortality rate of babies changes its structure. The proportion of inborn defects, infectious diseases and pathological states, which appeared in the perinatal period (that is from the 28th week of pregnancy to the 7th day after birth) grows.

The differences between the baby mortality rates in various districts of the Ternopil oblast can be explained, in my opinion, by the lower level of social and economic development and medicine in particular in northern districts of the oblast: Lanovetskiy, Zborivskiy, Shumskiy. The fact that recently the proportion of above-mentioned causes of the baby mortality in Ukraine is growing, witnesses of the accumulation of genetic defects, decrease of the immunity and weakening the natural selection factor (this is the negative influence of medicine).

Infectious diseases in 2000:

Total number

Number except influenza and respiratory virus infections

Ternopil oblast

13229,0

711,5

Town of Ternopil

33752,0

1442,0

Chortkiv district

11440,0

1226,6

Pidgayetskiy district

4337,0

318,9

Kozivskiy district

4973,0

Zborivskiy district

354,6

Such great variation within one oblast is explained by the character of diseases and the accessibility of medical aid: for instance, an inhabitant of a far off village would not go to a district hospital with influenza; as a result, most cases are not registered at all.

Intestinal infections (per 10 thousand):

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast

88,1

77,9

Chortkiv district

105

103

Viral mumps:

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast

117,6

Chortkiv district

271

355

Town of Ternopil

58

4981

Leptospirosis:

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast

65

43

Chortkiv district

10

6

Town of Ternopil

9

11

Infectious hepatitis:

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast

37,1

73,4

Chortkiv district

42,3

164,0

AIDS:

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast (absolute numbers)

12

36

Ternopil oblast

(per 100 thousand)

1,0

3,1

Neoplasms:

1999

2000

Ternopil oblast

270,9

Chortkiv district

233,2

Dynamics of catching TB:

1990

1997

1998

1999

2000

32,0

39,9

46,3

46,4

44,7

Number of beds:

1999

2000

Hospitals

15340

10540

Sanitariums

900

500

Rather high number of infectious diseases (intestinal infections, viral hepatitis A, leptospirosis), in particular in the Chortkiv district, is due to the low quality of drinking water. The reasons of the unprecedented raise of mumps in 1999-2000 are the total decrease of immune resistance and bad vaccination. Not only TB, the frequency of which grew almost twice during last five years, can be called a disease caused by poor social and economic state. As risk factors for a larger number of diseases become: chemical and radiation pollution, inadequate nutrition, irrational medicinal drug therapy, mass alcoholism and other harmful habits, spontaneous migration, psychical and emotional stresses, unhealthy way of life, etc.